A flood of table games will soon be headed to casinos in Pennsylvania after the state’s House and Senate approved measures allowing their introduction into 14 casinos. Currently, only slot machines are allowed.
According to the Associated Press, the Pennsylvania House voted by a margin of 103 to 89 to approve the introduction of table games. Only 12 Republicans voted for the measure, while just 10 Democrats voiced their opposition to it in a vote split largely along party lines. In the Senate, a total of 28 “yays” and 22 “nays” were recorded in a similar margin of victory. Now, games like poker, blackjack, craps, baccarat, and roulette will be rolled out throughout the state.
In response to the passage, the Mason-Dixon Resort and Casino declared that it would apply for a license to open a property near the historic town of Gettysburg, the site of the infamous Civil War battle. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell would have been forced into a quandary if the bill hadn’t passed, as Reuters reported that the state would have had to lay off nearly 1,000 of its staff due to a lack of revenue. Under the measure, funds will be pouring in from casinos, which will be allowed up to 250 table games, while resorts will be permitted to have up to 50. Licenses would run $16.5 million and $7.5 million, respectively. Table games are taxed at a rate of 16% for the first two years and 14% thereafter.
Pennsylvania gambling establishments will compete head-to-head with casinos in Atlantic City, which, like the rest of the world, have seen revenues fall since the latter part of 2008 due to a global recession. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit stops twice annually in Atlantic City. During the 2009-2010 schedule, Circuit staff popped into Harrah’s Atlantic City from December 4th to 20th. Between March 3rd and 20th, the epicenter of the Circuit universe will be Caesars Atlantic City; both are Harrah’s-owned properties.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) journeyed to the Borgata in Atlantic City in September. The buy-in for the feature tournament of the Borgata Poker Open was slashed to $3,500 due to the rough macroeconomic environment and, as a result, a mob of 1,018 players turned out. In the end, Olivier Busquet banked $925,000 for the win, defeating Jeremy Brown heads-up. The Borgata stop was the only visit to New Jersey for the WPT during its eighth season, which will air on Fox Sports Net.
The Associated Press noted that the introduction of table games may take six months to come to fruition. According to the news outlet, the opposition to the expansion of gambling was quite fierce: “Critics called the expansion of the 5-year-old slots gambling law fatally flawed and said that bolstered ethics rules for casino and Gaming Control Board employees were insufficient. They also said the bill should not have earmarked funding for certain pet projects.”
Democratic State Representative Dante Santoni told Reuters, “This is a common sense, bipartisan piece of legislation that makes our gaming facilities more competitive, improves the public’s confidence in gaming, raises money we desperately need in these tough financial times, and – most importantly -helps put thousands of people to work in a brand new industry.” Over 12 million people call Pennsylvania home as the eighth largest state in the Union.
As expected, Pennsylvania poker players were ecstatic to hear that table games would soon be coming to their fair state. On PocketFives.com, Ambler native “krispykreme” explained that he was looking forward to a shorter drive to gamble: “Finally. I was just talking to someone at work about this. Now, we are all going to go broke every day since it will only be like 20 minutes to the casinos, instead of 2 hours to AC.”
KYW News Radio in Philadelphia reported that under the new law, casinos will be able to extend credit to their players. The media outlet revealed the Governor’s mindset to the entire issue, which was drummed up arguments from both pro and anti-gambling residents: “The reality, says Rendell, is that if not having casinos in Pennsylvania would keep state residents away from gambling, he wouldn’t have pursued legalized gaming in the first place.”